The personal blog of Peter Lee a.k.a. "China Hand"... Life is a comedy to those who think, a tragedy to those who feel, and an open book to those who read. You are welcome to contact China Matters at the address chinamatters --a-- prlee.org or follow me on twitter @chinahand.

Monday, December 09, 2013

Rallwar!

To update Sartre, Hell isn’t other people.It’s DKos comments.

Right now, political cartoonist Ted Rall is up against
it.Several commentators on DKos attacked his
depictions of Barack Obama as racist.A DKos
admin heatedly endorsed the sentiment and notified Rall that he would be
suspended from the site if he “did it again”.So Rall pulled his cartoons from the site.After the feature disappeared, some people
on DKos continued to denigrate Rall, with a series of attacks on some of his
statements that, in my view, go beyond a serious discussion of his views into
simple vituperation which, repeated ad nauseum, unfairly threatens his
reputation and perhaps his professional standing.

I’ve read Ted Rall and admired his work for years.In my opinion, he isn’t racist; he’s
anti-elitist.Ironic detachment is not
his thing.He wants the viewer to see
the moral failings of his subjects in their faces as he draws them.And he’s not going to sweeten up a picture of
an African American president and undercut his message just to inoculate himself
charges that he’s racist, or unfair to a president that many people admire.

With decades of cartooning and reporting under his belt, Ted
Rall has earned the right to practice his craft and provoke reflection,
indignation, amusement, and thoughtful discussion of the issues he addresses in
his cartoons—not ad hominem abuse.You
can visit his website rall.com to read more about the controversy and, if you
like, contact him with an expression of support, as I have.